Offender Management statistics quarterly, England and Wales Quarter: April to June 2017, Prison population: 30 September 2017

1. Main points

The prison population has been relatively stable for the past five years. This differs to the increasing prison population trend that was observed between the 1950's and early 2000's (see Figure 1). Our most recent extracts indicate that there were:

85,997 prisoners in England and Wales as at 30 September 2017

The total prison population is essentially unchanged compared to the same point in the previous year.

35,408 admissions of which 21,236 were first receptions into prison in the latest quarter

Admissions and first receptions decreased by 2% on the same quarter last year but were similar to the previous quarter (changed by less than 1%).

46,841 adjudication outcomes in the last quarter

The number of adjudications increased by 9% on the same quarter of the previous year. 5,581 of these resulted in awards of additional days added to prisoners' sentences, an increase of 30% compared with the same quarter in 2016.

262,347 offenders on probation as at 30 June 2017

The number of offenders on probation at the end of June 2017 was 1% higher than the same point in the previous year.

5,406 offenders recalled to prison in the latest quarter

This is a 2% decrease compared to the same quarter in the previous year and a 1% increase on the previous quarter.

17,763 releases of which 17,492 were from determinate sentences in the last quarter

The number of releases decreased by 4% compared with the same point in the previous year.

This publication gives offender management statistics for the latest date available and provides comparison with fixed points of time in the previous year. For full and detailed commentary which looks into longer term trends, please refer to the annual publication, published in July, and 'The Story of the Prison Population: 1993 - 2016'. For technical detail please refer to the accompanying guide, 'Guide to offender management statistics'.

We are changing how our quarterly bulletins look, and would welcome any feedback to commentary.champions@justice.gsi.gov.uk

For other feedback related to the content of this publication, please let us know at statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk 2. Prison Population

The prison population stood at 85,997 on 30 September 2017.

The sentenced prison population stood at 74,635 (87%); the remand prison population stood at 9,902 (12%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 1,460 (2%).

Figure 1: Prison population, September 1997 to 2017 (Source: Table 1.1)

Remand

The remand population has increased by 4% (351) compared with the same point 12 months earlier. The number of males remanded in custody increased by 4% (to 9,327) whilst the number of females increased by 5% (to 575).

More than half (54%) of those remanded in custody were being held for either:

Violence against the person (23% of the remand population), Theft Offences (16%) or Drug offences (15%).

Sentenced

In line with the long term trend, the sentenced population has increased by 193 in the year leading up to 30 September 2017. Figure 1 shows that the total prison population has increased in line with the growth of the sentenced prison population since September 1997, however in more recent years the sentenced and total prison population has remained at a relatively constant level. Broadly speaking, there have been decreases in the number of prisoners serving determinate sentences of less than 4 years and increases in those serving determinate sentences of 4 years or longer. The number of prisoners serving determinate sentences of 14 years or more has increased by 8% (to 3,759) in the 12 months to 30 September 2017. Sex offenders

The rise in the long determinate sentenced population is in line with the increasing number of sentenced sex offenders. As at 30 September 2017 there were 13,456 prisoners serving sentences for sexual offences, which represented 18% of the sentenced prison population.

The number of prisoners serving immediate custodial sentences for sexual offences is now at its highest level since at least 2002. This is consistent with the latest ONS 'Crime in England and Wales' bulletin which reports on the number of sexual offences recorded by the police in the year ending June 2017.

A recent Crown Prosecution Service report highlighted that 2016/17 saw the highest ever number of convictions for rape and other sexual offences.

'Violence Against the Person (VATP)' and 'Possession of Weapons' offences

One in every four (25%) sentenced prisoners is in prison for a VATP offence. This proportion has remained stable for the past 12 months. The number of those sentenced to a 'Possession of Weapons' offence increased by 11% (to 2,502) compared to the same time last year. This substantial increase can be attributed to a range of factors, including more targeted police operations against knife crime. However this offence group only accounts for 3% of the sentenced prison population.

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

EDSs were made available for courts to impose from 13 April 2015 and on 30 September 2017, 4,038 prisoners were serving such sentences; a 6% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 28% increase compared to the same time last year.

Indeterminate sentences

As at 30 September 2017, there were 10,378 (10,033 male; 345 female) indeterminate sentenced prisoners (those serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences and life sentences) in the prison population. This represents an annual decrease of 7%.

There were 3,162 IPP prisoners as at 30 September 2017 which represents a decrease of 18% in the last 12 months. This figure has decreased by 48% since the June 2012 peak of 6,080, however the number of IPP prisoners who have been recalled to custody continues to increase; in the past year the recalled IPP population has grown by 20% (to 792).

The proportion of the IPP population who are post-tariff continues to increase; 86% of IPP prisoners were post-tariff as of 30 September 2017 compared to 83% at the same time the previous year.

The number of life sentenced prisoners (7,216) has decreased by 1% compared to 30 September 2016. There were 59 whole-life prisoners at the end of September 2017, with four additional life prisoners being treated in secure hospitals.

Recall to custody

The prison population who have been recalled to custody (6,186 prisoners) decreased by 8% over the year leading up to 30 September 2017. On this date, there were 1,088 prisoners recorded as being in custody following a recall under the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 (ORA); representing 18% of the total recall population.

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

There were 9,946 (1,672 remand, 6,900 sentenced and 1,374 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody and HMPPS-operated Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) as at 30 September 2017; representing 12% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison (and HMPPS IRC) population has decreased by 34 compared to 30 September 2016. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Polish (9% of the FNO prison population), Irish (8%), Albanian (7%), Romanian (6%) and Jamaican (5%).

3. Prison receptions and admissions

In total there were 35,408 admissions to custody in the latest quarter. 13,914 remand admissions, 16,339 sentenced admissions, 5,084 recall admissions and 71 non-criminal admissions.

21,236 offenders were received into custody as first receptions in the latest quarter. 11,180 remand first receptions, 10,001 sentenced first receptions and 55 civil non-criminal first receptions.

The number of first receptions decreased by 1% on the previous quarter, this is consistent with a 2% decrease in the number of first receptions compared with the same quarter in 2017.

There was a 2% increase in the number of untried admissions (to 8,576), a 1% increase in the number of convicted unsentenced admissions (to 5,338) and a 5% decrease in the number of sentenced admissions (to 16,339) compared with the same quarter in 2017.

Adult (aged 21+) remand admissions have increased by 1% and young adult (18-20 year olds) remand admissions have increased by 6%. Adult sentenced admissions have decreased by 5% and young adult sentenced admissions have decreased by 6%, compared with the same quarter last year.

Almost half of all sentenced admissions during the quarter were for sentences of six months or less (7,733, 47% of sentenced admissions). This sentence length band has seen a 3% decrease in the number of admissions when compared with the same quarter last year.

By comparing this quarter with the corresponding quarter in 2016 it can be seen that immediate custodial sentenced admissions for 'Fraud Offences' and 'Criminal damage and arson' decreased by 14% and 13% respectively, however the number of sentenced admissions for 'Possession of weapons' and 'Summary Non-Motoring' has increased by 9% and 3% respectively compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

Former members of the Armed Forces

Former members of the Armed Forces accounted for 427 of the matched first receptions for April to June, 2017. This equates to approximately 3% of offenders who responded to the question asked, which has been at the same level of response for the four previous quarters.

4. Adjudications

There were 46,841 adjudication outcomes in the latest quarter. 66% of these adjudications were proven. One in three (33%) of proven adjudications were for offences of disobedience or disrespect; the number of proven disobedience offences increased by 1% on the same quarter of the previous year. The total number of proven adjudications increased by 12% over the same time period, predominantly due to a 52% increase in proven adjudications for unauthorised transactions.

There were 5,581 punishments where additional days were awarded for offences committed by prisoners in the quarter ending June, 2017. The overall average number of punishments per offence was 1.71. This is broadly consistent with figures seen in the previous quarter.

5. Releases

17,763 offenders were released from custody in the latest quarter. 17,492 releases from determinate sentences and 271 from indeterminate sentences.

Prison releases from custodial sentences The total number of releases during the quarter ending June 2017 represents a 4% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2016.

The number of prisoners released from sentences of ‘12 months to less than 2 years’ and ‘Less than or equal to 6 months’ decreased by 15% and 8% respectively. However the number of prisoners released from sentences of ‘4 years or more has increased by 8%.

There were 271 releases from indeterminate sentences between April and June 2017, a 25% increase from the same period in 2016. The majority (162) were offenders released from IPP sentences.

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) 2,267 offenders were released on HDC during the latest quarter. The number of HDC releases decreased by 3% compared to the same quarter in 2016.

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL) There were 86,182 incidences of ROTL during the quarter ending June 2017, which is an 8% increase on the same quarter last year.

Compared to the quarter ending June 2016, the number of ROTL incidences decreased by 11% for females (to 6,916) and increased by 10% for males (to 79,266).

The number of individuals given at least one incidence of ROTL between April and June 2017 was 4,023, which represents an increase of 9% since the same quarter of the previous year.

There were 90 recorded Temporary Release Failures (TRFs) between April and June 2017. This is an increase of 40 compared with the previous quarter and an increase of 4 compared with the same period the previous year. TRFs as a proportion of temporary release incidences remain at a low level, with approximately only 1 in every 1,000 incidences of temporary release resulting in a failure between April and June 2017.

Prisoner transfers There were a total of 23,047 recorded incidences of prisoner transfer during the latest quarter. The majority of these (70%) were routine inter-prison transfers; 223 (1%) incidences of transfer were a result of overcrowding drafts. 18,908 prisoners had at least one incidence of a transfer in the quarter ending June 2017. 6. Probation

The total number of offenders on probation was 262,347 at the end of June.

This was a 1% increase in the total probation caseload (court orders and pre- and post-release supervision) compared with 30 June 2016.

Figure 2: Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision, 31 December 2007-2016 and June 2017 (Source: Table 4.7)

The court order caseload increased by 4% between the quarters ending June 2016 and 2017, with the Community Order (CO) caseload showing little change, but the Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) caseload increasing by 9%. The number of offenders starting COs decreased by 10% over this period, while the number of offenders starting SSOs with requirements decreased by 9%. There was little change in the overall caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison between the end of June 2016 and 2017, but those supervised on post release alone increased by 2%.

Regarding the number of requirements started under court orders, increases can be seen in the combination of the rehabilitation requirement with both the unpaid work and curfew requirements for SSOs, despite a general fall in requirement numbers commensurate with the fall in numbers of orders.

Of the court orders terminated in the quarter ending June 2017, 72% of community orders were terminated successfully; for the supervision periods of suspended sentence orders, 71% were terminated successfully over this period.

The number of court reports prepared by the Probation Service decreased by 15% between the quarter ending June 2017 and the same quarter in the previous year, to reach 32,731. This reflects the long-term downward trend in the number of cases being dealt with by the courts. 70% of immediate custodial sentences proposed in Pre-Sentence Reports resulted in that sentence being given in the latest 12 month period. 7. Licence Recalls

The number of licence recalls between April and June 2017 was 5,406.

The number of recalls decreased by 2% compared with the same period in 2016.

Offenders that have been sentenced to more than a day in prison will receive at least 12 months of supervision on release as a result of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014. This affects those sentenced from 1st February 2015. Offenders that have been recalled for breaching conditions of their licence following a sentence of less than 12 months are called ORA recalls.

Between April and June 2017, there were 2,212 recalls of offenders released from a sentence of less than 12 months, an 8% increase compared with the same period in 2016, and a 6% increase compared to the previous quarter.

Since the introduction of ORA, the number of non-ORA recalls has been falling. There were 3,194 non-ORA recalls between April and June 2017, an 8% decrease compared with the same period in 2016, and a 2% decrease when compared to the previous quarter.

The most common reason for offenders being recalled between April and June 2017 was for non-compliance, with 61% of recalls having ‘non-compliance’ recorded as one of the reasons for recall. ‘Further charge’ was recorded as a reason in 44% of licence recalls.

Between April and June 2017 there were 69 prisoners serving an IPP sentence and 37 offenders serving a life sentence who were re-released having previously been returned to custody for a breach of licence conditions.

Offenders not returned to custody

Of all those released on licence and recalled to custody due to breaching the conditions of their licence between April 1999 and June 2017, there were 1,566 who had not been returned to custody by the end of September 2017.

A further 18 offenders had not been returned to custody as of 30 September 2017 after recall between 1984 and April 1999, meaning the total number of offenders not returned to custody at the end of September 2017 was 1,584. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead or living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.

Of the 1,584 not returned to custody by 30 September 2017, 246 had originally been serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences and a further 55 for sexual offences. Further information

This publication presents quarterly data trends. For annual figures, and longer-term trends, please refer to our annual bulletin published in July each year.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

- A 'Guide to Offender Management Statistics', which provides comprehensive information about data sources and quality, as well as key legislative changes.
- A document outlining the 'Users of Offender Management Statistics'
- A set of data tables, covering each section of this bulletin, including a prison population data tool.

National Statistics status

National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value. All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the Authority's regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: Tel: 020 3334 3536 Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical Services division of the Ministry of Justice: Nick Mavron, Head of Prison, Probation, Reoffending and PbR Statistics Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Next update: 25 January 2018 URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

© Crown copyright Produced by the Ministry of Justice

Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk